The Princess and the Frog

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The Princess and the Frog
The Princess and the Frog poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Ron Clements
  • John Musker
  • Greg Erb
  • Jason Oremland
Based on
Produced by Peter Del Vecho
Starring
Edited by Jeff Draheim
Music by Randy Newman
Production
companies
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates
Running time
97 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$105 million [2]
Box office$271 million [1] [3]

The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 American animated musical romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is inspired in part by the 2002 novel The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker, which in turn is based on the German folk tale "The Frog Prince" as collected by the Brothers Grimm. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements and produced by Peter Del Vecho, from a screenplay that Clements and Musker co-wrote with Rob Edwards. The directors also co-wrote the story with the writing team of Greg Erb and Jason Oremland. The film stars the voices of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jim Cummings, Jennifer Cody, John Goodman, Keith David, Peter Bartlett, Jenifer Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, and Terrence Howard. Set in New Orleans during the 1920s, the film tells the story of a hardworking waitress named Tiana who dreams of opening her own restaurant. After kissing a prince who has been turned into a frog by an evil voodoo witch doctor, Tiana becomes a frog herself and must find a way to turn back into a human before it is too late.

Contents

The Princess and the Frog began production in July 2006, under the working title The Frog Princess. It marked Disney's brief return to traditional animation, as it was the mainstream animation studio's first traditionally animated film since Home on the Range (2004). Musker and Clements, directors of Disney's The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), and Treasure Planet (2002) returned to Disney to direct The Princess and the Frog. The studio returned to a Broadway musical-style format frequently used during the Disney Renaissance, and the film features a score and songs composed and conducted by Randy Newman, well known for his musical involvement in Pixar films such as the Toy Story franchise.

The Princess and the Frog premiered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building on the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank on November 15, 2009, and first opened in a limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on November 25, followed by its wide release on December 11. The film received largely positive reviews from critics, who praised the animation (particularly the revival of the hand-drawn form), characters, music, voice acting (particularly David's), and themes; however, it was criticized for its depiction of Louisiana Voodoo and alleged historical negationism of its depiction of the Southern United States during the Jim Crow era. It was a qualified success at the box office: it somewhat underperformed Disney's targets yet finished in first place in North America on its opening weekend and grossed around $271 million worldwide (becoming, in the process, Disney’s most successful traditionally animated film since Lilo & Stitch in 2002). It received three Oscar nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards: one for Best Animated Feature and two for Best Original Song. [4]

Plot

In New Orleans during the Roaring Twenties, a young woman named Tiana is devoted to opening her own restaurant, a dream she shared with her late father. She works two waitress jobs to save enough money for her own restaurant, leaving her no time for a social life. In early 1926, Naveen, the arrogant prince of Maldonia, arrives in New Orleans. His parents have cut him off from the family fortune, so he intends to marry Charlotte La Bouff, Tiana's best friend. In order to convince her to marry Naveen, Charlotte's father, wealthy Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff, hosts a masquerade ball in Naveen's honor, for which Charlotte hires Tiana to make beignets, paying her enough to buy a dilapidated mill to convert into her dream restaurant. Naveen and his valet, Lawrence, encounter Dr. Facilier, an evil and powerful voodoo witch doctor who plans to rule New Orleans. Facilier transforms Naveen into a frog and transforms Lawrence into a doppelganger of Naveen, using a voodoo talisman containing Naveen's blood. Facilier intends for the disguised Lawrence to marry Charlotte, then to kill her father with a voodoo doll so he can gain the La Bouff fortune.

At the ball, Tiana learns she has been outbid for the mill; she becomes despondent. Tiana then meets Naveen in frog form. Believing Tiana is a princess, Naveen asks for her to kiss him to break Facilier's spell. Tiana reluctantly agrees after Naveen promises to finance her restaurant. However, because Tiana is not a princess, she is transformed into a frog as well. The two are chased into a nearby bayou, where they meet a jazz-loving alligator named Louis. After informing Louis they are actually humans under a voodoo spell, he tells them of Mama Odie, another voodoo practitioner who lives in the bayou. Naveen convinces Louis to take him and Tiana to see Mama Odie so he would ask her to turn him into a human as well to accomplish his dream of being a professional jazz musician.

However, Louis does not know the way to Mama Odie; a Cajun firefly named Ray, who knows Mama Odie, helps the three. During the journey, Tiana and Naveen begin developing feelings for each other, especially after Naveen learns to be more responsible. Meanwhile, the talisman disguising Lawrence as Naveen begins faltering; it needs a steady supply of Naveen's blood to function. Facilier asks his "friends on the other side" (a legion of voodoo spirits) to help retrieve Naveen, and they grant him an army of shadow demons to do his bidding. The demons discover Tiana and her group in the bayou; Mama Odie rescues the group.

Mama Odie tells Naveen the spell can only be broken with a princess's kiss. Tiana realizes that since Big Daddy has been crowned Mardi Gras king, Charlotte will be a princess until midnight. The group hitches a ride on a paddle steamer back to New Orleans, during which Naveen tells Ray about his love for Tiana and plans to propose marriage to her. After talking to Tiana, Naveen selflessly decides against proposing, since transforming him and Tiana into humans and financing Tiana's restaurant is contingent on him kissing and marrying Charlotte. The shadow demons capture Naveen and bring him to Facilier, who uses his blood to replenish the talisman. After Ray tells Tiana of Naveen's love for her, Tiana heads to the Mardi Gras parade to find Naveen, only to see the disguised Lawrence marrying Charlotte. Heartbroken, Tiana flees the scene.

Ray rescues the real Naveen and steals the talisman, which he gives to Tiana before Facilier mortally wounds him. Facilier offers to make Tiana's dream come true in exchange for the talisman. Realizing that she would be dishonoring her father by accepting, Tiana destroys the talisman. With Facilier's plan foiled, the voodoo spirits drag him into their world for failing to pay back his debt. After Lawrence is arrested, Tiana reveals her love to Naveen. Charlotte is moved by this and agrees to kiss Naveen so he and Tiana can be human together, but as the clock strikes midnight, Charlotte is no longer a princess, so Tiana and Naveen remain frogs. Ray dies shortly thereafter and is reincarnated as a star. Tiana and Naveen are married by Mama Odie, and since doing so makes Tiana a princess, both are restored to human form. They later return to New Orleans to legally marry and open Tiana's restaurant.

Voice cast

Production

Early development

Disney had once announced that 2004's Home on the Range would be their last traditionally animated film. After the company's acquisition of Pixar in 2006, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, the new president and chief creative officer of Disney Animation Studios, reversed this decision and reinstated hand-drawn animation at the studio. [13] [14] Many animators who had either been laid off or had left the studio when the traditional animation units were dissolved in 2003 were located and re-hired for the project. [15] Lasseter also brought back directors Ron Clements and John Musker, whose earlier works include The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), and Treasure Planet (2002). [16] [17] The duo had left the company in 2005, but Lasseter requested their return to Disney to direct and write the film and had let them choose the style of animation (traditional or CGI) they wanted to use. [9]

The film's story began development by merging two projects in development at Disney and Pixar at the time, both based around "The Frog Prince" fairy tale. [9] [15] One of the projects was based on E. D. Baker's The Frog Princess , in which the story's heroine (Princess Emma) kisses a prince turned frog (Prince Eadric), only to become a frog herself. [15] The other was based on Ralph Eggleston's pitch of The Frog Prince set in gangster-era Chicago. [18] Jorgen Klubien separately claimed that a story he was developing at Pixar tentatively titled The Spirit of New Orleans served as inspiration for the film. [19] The Princess and the Frog returns to the musical film format used in many of the previously successful Disney animated films, with a style Musker and Clements declared, like with Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, had inspiration from Golden Age Disney features such as Cinderella (1950). [20]

Musker and Clements thought that given so many fairy tales were set in Europe, they could do an American fairy tale. [20] They stated that they chose New Orleans as a tribute to the history of the city, for its "magical" qualities, and because it was Lasseter's favorite city. [9] [21] The directors spent ten days in Louisiana before starting to write the film. [20]

The Princess and the Frog was originally announced as The Frog Princess in July 2006, [13] and early concepts and songs were presented to the public at Anchor Bay Entertainment's annual shareholders' meeting in March 2007. [22] These announcements drew criticism from African-American media outlets, due to elements of the Frog Princess story, characters, and settings considered distasteful. [23] [24] African-American critics disapproved of the original name for the heroine, "Maddy", due to its similarity to the derogatory word term "mammy". [23] Also protested were Maddy's original career as a chambermaid, [24] the choice to have the Black heroine's love interest be a non-Black prince, [23] and the use of a Black male voodoo witchdoctor as the film's villain. [23] The Frog Princess title was also thought by critics to be a slur on French people. [25] Also questioned was the film's setting of New Orleans, which had been heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, resulting in the expulsion of a large number of mostly Black residents. [26] Critics claimed the choice of New Orleans as the setting for a Disney film with a Black heroine was an affront to the Katrina victims' plight. [23] [26]

In response to these early criticisms, the film's title was changed in May 2007 from The Frog Princess to The Princess and the Frog. The name "Maddy" was changed to "Tiana", [25] [27] and the character's occupation was altered from chambermaid to waitress. [23] Talk show host Oprah Winfrey was hired as a technical consultant for the film, leading to her taking a voice-acting role in the film as Tiana's mother, Eudora. [9]

Writing and themes

The head of story, Don Hall, described the plot as a fairy tale "twisted enough that it seems new and fresh", with a kingdom that is a modern city, a handsome prince that is a "knuckleheaded playboy" and a variation on the fairy godmother with Mama Odie. Co-writer Rob Edwards also said The Princess and the Frog was "a princess movie for people who don't like princess movies". As the writers thought Tiana's character motivation of simply dreaming of having her own restaurant was not appealing enough, they expanded so it was her father's as well, with the extra philosophy of "food bringing people together from all walks of life". Musker and Clements stated that while Tiana already starts as a sympathetic character, the events of the plot make her "understand things in a deeper level" and change people around her. Both protagonists would learn from each other—Naveen to take responsibilities, Tiana to enjoy life—as well as figuring from Ray's passion for Evangeline that the perfect balance is brought by having someone you love to share the experience. [20] Tiana became the first African-American Disney Princess. [28] [29]

Tiana was inspired in part by famed restaurateur Leah Chase, whom Clements and Musker met on their research trip to New Orleans. [30] Clements elaborated, "There's a woman in New Orleans named Lee (sic) Chase who was a waitress and ultimately opened a restaurant with her husband … we met with her and we talked with her and she went to kind of into her story, her philosophy about food, which is a big element of the movie." [31]

Voice cast

Anika Noni Rose voices Tiana. Anika Noni Rose at 2010 Oscars.jpg
Anika Noni Rose voices Tiana.

On December 1, 2006, a detailed casting call was announced for the film at the Manhattan Theatre Source forum. [32] The casting call states the film as being an American fairy tale musical set in New Orleans during the 1926 Jazz Age and provides a detailed list of the film's major characters. [14]

In February 2007, it was reported that Dreamgirls actresses Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose were top contenders for the voice of Tiana and that Alicia Keys directly contacted then-Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook about voicing the role. [33] It was later reported that Tyra Banks was being considered for the role. [34] By April 2007, it was confirmed that Rose would be voicing Tiana. [35] Three months later, it was reported that Keith David was cast as Doctor Facilier, the villain of the film. [36]

Animation and design

Clements and Musker had agreed early on that the style they were aiming for was primarily that of Lady and the Tramp (1955), a film which they and John Lasseter feel represents "the pinnacle of Disney's style". [37] "After that, everything started becoming more stylized, like Sleeping Beauty , 101 Dalmatians —which are fantastic films as well, but there's a particular style (to Lady and the Tramp) that's so classically Disney." [38] Lady and the Tramp also heavily informed the style of the New Orleans scenes, while Disney's Bambi (1942) served as the template for the bayou scenes. [37] Bambi was described as a stylistic reference for the painted backgrounds, as according to art director Ian Gooding "Bambi painted what it feels like to be in the forest instead of the forest" so The Princess and the Frog would in turn try capturing the essence of roaming through New Orleans. [20]

The former trend in Disney's hand-drawn features where the characters and cinematography were influenced by a CGI-look had been abandoned. Andreas Deja, a veteran Disney animator who supervised the character of Mama Odie, says "I always thought that maybe we should distinguish ourselves to go back to what 2D is good at, which is focusing on what the line can do rather than volume, which is a CG kind of thing. So we are doing less extravagant Treasure Planet kind of treatments. You have to create a world but [we're doing it more simply]. What we're trying to do with Princess and the Frog is hook up with things that the old guys did earlier. It's not going to be graphic...". [39] Deja also mentioned that Lasseter was aiming for the Disney sculptural and dimensional look of the 1950s: "All those things that were non-graphic, which means go easy on the straight lines and have one volume flow into the other—an organic feel to the drawing." [39] Lasseter also felt that traditional animation created more character believability. [40] For example, with Louis the alligator, created by Eric Goldberg, Lasseter said: "It's the believability of this large character being able to move around quite like that." [40] Choreographer Betsy Baytos was brought by the directors to lead a team of eccentric dancers that gave reference to make each character a different style of movement. The character design tried to create beautiful drawings through subtle shapes, particularly for most characters being human. For the frog versions of Tiana and Naveen, while the animators started with realistic designs, they eventually went for stylized designs "removing all that is unappealing in frogs", similar to Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio (1940). [20]

Toon Boom Animation's Toon Boom Harmony computer software was used as the main software package for the production of the film, as the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) system that Disney developed with Pixar in the 1980s for use on their previous traditionally animated films had become now outdated by 2004. [41] The Harmony software was augmented with a number of plug-ins to provide CAPS-like effects such as shading on cheeks and smoke effects. [10] [39] The reinstated traditional unit's first production, a 2007 Goofy cartoon short entitled How to Hook Up Your Home Theater , was partly animated without paper by using Harmony and Wacom Cintiq pressure-sensitive tablets. The character animators found some difficulty with this approach, and decided to use traditional paper and pencil drawings, which were then scanned into the computer systems, for The Princess and the Frog. [10]

The one exception to the new Toon Boom Harmony pipeline was the "Almost There" dream sequence, which utilized an Art Deco graphic style based on the art of Harlem Renaissance painter Aaron Douglas. [42] Supervised by Eric Goldberg and designed by Sue Nichols, [43] the "Almost There" sequence's character animation was done on paper without going through the clean-up animation department, [9] and scanned directly into Photoshop. The artwork was then enhanced to affect the appearance of painted strokes and fills, and combined with backgrounds, using Adobe After Effects. [7] [10]

The visual effects and backgrounds for the film were created digitally using Cintiq tablet displays. [10] [44] Marlon West, one of Disney's veteran animation visual effects supervisors, says about the production; "Those guys had this bright idea to bring back hand-drawn animation, but everything had to be started again from the ground up. One of the first things we did was focus on producing shorts, to help us re-introduce the 2D pipeline. I worked as vfx supervisor on the Goofy short, How to Hook Up Your Home Theater. It was a real plus for the effects department, so we went paperless for The Princess and the Frog." The backgrounds were painted digitally using Adobe Photoshop, and many of the architectural elements were based upon 3D models built in Autodesk Maya. [10] Much of the clean-up animation, digital ink-and-paint, and compositing were outsourced to third-party companies in Orlando, Florida (Premise Entertainment), Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Yowza! Animation), and Brooklin, São Paulo, Brazil (HGN Produções). [6]

Music

In February 2006, Alan Menken was initially reported to be composing the soundtrack. [45] However, Lasseter thought that since Menken was scoring the Disney film Enchanted (2007) at the time, the music might be too repetitive. Lasseter felt that Randy Newman, whom he had previously worked with, was the perfect choice for the film and replaced Menken with him, due to the fact that Newman was a jazz composer and grew up in New Orleans, making him compatible with the project's musical setting, not to mention that he had previous experience in adding Broadway musical style to another 2D animated film which was Cats Don't Dance . [46] In February 2007, Newman was announced as the film's new composer. [47]

During Disney's 2007 shareholder meeting, Newman and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band performed the film's opening number, "Down in New Orleans", with famous New Orleans singer Dr. John singing, while slides of pre-production art from the film played on a screen. [22] Other songs in the film include "Almost There" (a solo for Tiana), "Dig a Little Deeper" (a song for Mama Odie), "When We're Human" (a song for Louis, Tiana and Naveen [as frogs]), "Friends on the Other Side" (a solo for Doctor Facilier), and "Gonna Take You There" and "Ma Belle Evangeline" (two solos for Ray). [22] Newman composed, arranged, and conducted the music for the film, a mixture of jazz, zydeco, blues, and gospel styles performed by the voice cast members for the respective characters, while R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo wrote and performed the end title song, "Never Knew I Needed", an R&B love song referring to the romance between the film's two main characters, Tiana and Naveen. Supported by a music video by Melina, "Never Knew I Needed" was issued to radio outlets as a commercial single from the Princess and the Frog soundtrack. [48]

The film's soundtrack album, The Princess and the Frog: Original Songs and Score, contains the ten original songs from the film and seven instrumental pieces. The soundtrack was released on November 23, 2009, the day before the limited release of the film in New York and Los Angeles. [49]

Release

The film premiered in theaters with a limited run in New York and Los Angeles beginning on November 25, 2009, followed by wide release on December 11, 2009. [50] The film was originally set for release on Christmas Day 2009, but its release date was changed due to a competing family film, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel , scheduled for release the same day. [51] The Princess and the Frog received a limited re-release in AMC Theatres, lasting for one week from October 6 to October 12, 2017, as part of the Dream Big, Princess campaign. [52] [53] As part of Disney's 100th anniversary the film was re-released in cinemas across the UK on October 6, 2023 for one week. [54]

Marketing

The Princess and the Frog was supported by a wide array of merchandise leading up to and following the film's release. Although Disney's main marketing push was not set to begin until November 2009, positive word-of-mouth promotion created demand for merchandise well in advance of the film. [55] Princess Tiana costumes were selling out prior to Halloween 2009, and a gift set of Tiana-themed hair-care products from Carol's Daughter sold out in seven hours on the company's website. [55] Other planned merchandise includes a cookbook for children and even a wedding gown. [55] Princess Tiana was also featured a few months before the release in the Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate! show. [56] The film itself was promoted through advertisements, including one from GEICO where Naveen, as a frog, converses with the company's gecko mascot. [57]

A live parade and show called Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! premiered on October 25, 2009, at the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida [58] and on November 5 at Disneyland in California. [59] In Disneyland, actors in New Orleans Square paraded to the Rivers of America and boarded the park's steamboat. [59] From there, the cast, starring Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, Louis the alligator, and Doctor Facilier, would sing songs from the movie, following a short story line taking place after the events of the film. The Disneyland version's actors actually partook in singing, while the Walt Disney World rendition incorporated lip-syncing. [59]

Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! ran at both parks until January 3, 2010. [58] [59] At Disneyland Park, the show was replaced by a land-based event called Princess Tiana's Mardi Gras Celebration, which features Princess Tiana along with five of the original presentation's "Mardi Gras dancers" and the park's "Jambalaya Jazz Band" as they perform songs from the movie. [60] "Tiana's Mardi Gras Celebration" officially ended on October 3, 2010. However, it returned to Disneyland from 2011–2013 as part of the "Limited Time Magic" family-fun weekends. [61] [62] [63]

Tiana also appears in Disneyland Paris's New Generation Festival. [64] Some of the characters appear frequently during World of Color , the nightly fountain and projection show presented at Disney California Adventure. Disney announced on June 4, 2009, that they would release a video game inspired by the film and it was released on November 2009 exclusively for Wii and Nintendo DS platforms. It has been officially described as an "adventure through the exciting world of New Orleans in a family-oriented video game", featuring events from the film and challenges for Princess Tiana. [65]

Reception

Box office

On its limited day release, the film grossed $263,890 at two theaters and grossed $786,190 its opening weekend. [66] [67] On its opening day in wide release, the film grossed $7 million at 3,434 theaters. [68] It went on to gross $24.2 million over the opening weekend averaging $7,050 per theater, [69] ranking at #1 for the weekend, and making it the highest-grossing opening to date for an animated movie in December (a record previously held by Beavis and Butt-Head Do America from 1996). [70] The film went on to gross $104.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $271 million worldwide. It was the fifth-highest-grossing animated film of 2009, which was deemed an underachievement by Disney's standards. Overall, the film was considered a qualified commercial success against greater production and pre-release hopes. [1]

While the film outgrossed Disney's contemporaneous hand-drawn films of the 2000s – including The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Treasure Planet (2002), Brother Bear (2003), and Home on the Range (2004) – it had a considerably less auspicious time than the animated films from Disney's second heyday of the latter 1980s and 1990s. Disney animator Tom Sito compared the film's performance to that of The Great Mouse Detective (1986), which had been a step up from the theatrical run of the 1985 box office failure The Black Cauldron (both films presaged upcoming commercial returns to form for Disney, with The Great Mouse Detective, in particular, cited as a self-successful inflection point towards the Renaissance, including by Disney internally). [71] It has been opined that part of the film's modest return could be ascribed to being overshadowed by the release of James Cameron’s Avatar a week after its release. [72] The film's fiscal shortcoming was a major reason for the changing of title of the next year's Tangled from "Rapunzel" in order to dissociate from The Princess and the Frog and the entire vacillating Disney Princess concept (Tangled would almost double its predecessor's box office take). [73]

Critical reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported the film has an 85% approval rating based on 201 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The site's general consensus is that "The warmth of traditional Disney animation makes this occasionally lightweight fairy-tale update a lively and captivating confection for the holidays." [74] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [75] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. [76]

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A" grade and applauded the film's creative team for "uphold[ing] the great tradition of classic Disney animation". [77] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised Walt Disney Animation for "rediscovering its traditional hand-drawn animation" and for "a thing called story". [78] David Germain of the Associated Press wrote that "The Princess and the Frog is not the second coming of Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King . It's just plain pleasant, an old-fashioned little charmer that's not straining to be the next glib animated compendium of pop-culture flotsam." [79]

Justin Chang of Variety was less receptive, stating "this long-anticipated throwback to a venerable house style never comes within kissing distance of the studio's former glory". [80] Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave the film three stars out of five stars while saying "The Princess and the Frog breaks the color barrier for Disney princesses, but is a throwback to traditional animation and her story is a retread". [81] Village Voice 's Scott Foundas found that "the movie as a whole never approaches the wit, cleverness, and storytelling brio of the studio's early-1990s animation renaissance ( Beauty and the Beast , The Lion King ) or pretty much anything by Pixar". [82] Betsy Sharkey, formerly of the Los Angeles Times , gave the film a positive review claiming: "With The Princess and the Frog they've gotten just about everything right. The dialogue is fresh-prince clever, the themes are ageless, the rhythms are riotous and the return to a primal animation style is beautifully executed." [83]

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and admired Disney's step back to traditional animation, writing, "No 3-D! No glasses! No extra ticket charge! No frantic frenzies of meaningless action! And ... good gravy! A story! Characters! A plot! This is what classic animation once was like!", but stated that the film "inspires memories of Disney's Golden Age it doesn't quite live up to, as I've said, but it's spritely and high-spirited, and will allow kids to enjoy it without visually assaulting them." [84] S. Jhoanna Robledo of Common Sense Media gave the film three out of five stars, writing, "First African-American Disney princess is a good role model". [85] Saint Bryan of KING 5 Seattle praised the film and called it "The Best Disney Movie Since The Lion King". [86]

Upon its release, the film created controversy among some Christians over its use of Louisiana Voodoo as a plot device. [87] Christianity Today 's review of the film cited its sexual undertones and use of voodoo, arguing that the scenes with Dr. Facilier and his "friends on the other side" contain many horror elements and that young children might be frightened by the film. [88] The film's negative portrayal of Voodoo also drew criticism from non-Christian factions. [89] The film also received criticism for historical negationism of the Jim Crow era in the Southern USA. [90] [91] [92]

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and twice for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to Up and Crazy Heart , respectively. [4] [93] It was also nominated for eight Annie Awards and, at the 37th Annie Awards Ceremony on February 6, 2010, won three. [8]

AwardCategoryNomineeResult
2009 Satellite Awards [94] Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed MediaThe Princess and the FrogNominated
Best Original Song Randy Newman (Almost There)
Randy Newman (Down in New Orleans)
African-American Film Critics Association Awards 2009 Top 10 FilmsThe Princess and the FrogWon
Best Screenplay John Musker, Ron Clements and Rob Edwards — Tied with Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
2009 Producers Guild of America Awards [95] Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures Peter Del Vecho Nominated
2009 Online Film Critics Society Awards [96] Best Animated FeatureThe Princess and the Frog
67th Golden Globe Awards [97] Best Animated Feature Film
2009 Chicago Film Critics Association [98] Best Animated Feature
2009 Critics Choice Awards [99] Best Animated Feature
Best Score Randy Newman
Best Song (Almost There)
2009 Black Reel Awards [100] Best FilmThe Princess and the Frog
Best Song, Original or Adapted Ne-Yo (Never Knew I Needed)
Anika Noni Rose (Almost There)Won
Anika Noni Rose (Down in New Orleans)Nominated
Best Voice Performance Keith David
Anika Noni Rose Won
Best EnsembleThe Princess and the FrogNominated
37th Annie Awards [8] Best Animated Feature
Animated EffectsJames DeValera MansfieldWon
Production Design in a Feature ProductionIan GoodingNominated
Character Animation in a Feature ProductionAndreas Deja
Eric Goldberg Won
Bruce W. Smith Nominated
Voice Acting in a Feature Production Jennifer Cody ("Charlotte")Won
Jenifer Lewis ("Mama Odie")Nominated
82nd Academy Awards [4] [93]
Best Animated Feature John Musker and Ron Clements
Best Original Song Randy Newman (Almost There)
Randy Newman (Down in New Orleans)
41st NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Motion Picture
Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture Anika Noni Rose
36th Saturn Awards [101] Best Animated FilmThe Princess and the Frog
2010 Teen Choice Awards [102] [103] Choice Movie: Animated
2011 Grammy Awards [104] Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media Randy Newman (Down in New Orleans)
Women Film Critics Circle Best Animated Females Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), Jennifer Cody (Charlotte La Bouff), Oprah Winfrey (Eudora), Jenifer Lewis (Mama Odie), and all other female characters in The Princess and the Frog.Won

Home media

The Princess and the Frog was released in North America on DVD and Blu-ray on March 16, 2010. [105]

The film is available on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray combo pack editions. The combo pack includes the DVD, Digital Copy, and Blu-ray of the film. [105] The DVD edition has sold over 4.5 million copies and has made $71.8 million in DVD sales, [106] making it the ninth-best-selling DVD of 2010. [107] As of 2019, the film had earned $119 million from its home media releases. [3] The Princess and the Frog was released on 4K Blu-ray on November 5, 2019. [108]

Impact and debates

Following The Princess and the Frog, Disney considered releasing at least one hand-drawn animated film every two years, [109] starting with Winnie the Pooh (2011), and continuing with a film inspired by "The Snow Queen". The medium of the latter was later switched to CGI (although it features a similar visual style to the 2010 film Tangled by blending elements of the two media) due to complex visual elements in the story. The film was ultimately titled Frozen , and was released in 2013.

The blog website /Film noted in July 2014 with the release of hand-drawn concept art for Frozen (which grossed over US$1 billion worldwide), that any future hand-drawn animated films have been "killed" for the time being due to The Princess and the Frog failing "to ignite the box office". [110] Two months later, however, many Disney artists announced they were working on a new independent hand-drawn animated film, Hullabaloo, as part of an attempt to bring back hand-drawn animation, [111] consisting in three short films, while others got later involved on making the Netflix animated film Klaus , released in 2019.

Looking back on the experience four years later, Catmull stated that Disney had made a "serious mistake" in the process of marketing and releasing the film. [112] Walt Disney Studios' marketing department had warned Disney Animation that the word "princess" in the title "would lead moviegoers to think that the film was for girls only," but the animation studio's management insisted on keeping the "princess" title because they believed that the film's quality and hand-drawn animation would bring in all quadrants anyway. [112] In Catmull's words, this belief "was our own version of a stupid pill." [112] The marketing department turned out to be correct in their prediction that many moviegoers would and did avoid the film because they thought it was "for little girls only." [112] This was further compounded by the fact that the film opened a week before Avatar . [112]

Looking back on the experience seven years later, Lasseter told Variety : "I was determined to bring back [hand-drawn animation] because I felt it was such a heritage of the Disney studio, and I love the art form … I was stunned that Princess didn't do better. We dug into it and did a lot of research and focus groups. It was viewed as old-fashioned by the audience." [113]

Despite the absence of traditional animated feature films after the release of Winnie the Pooh, Disney Animation has been using both media for the sake of experimenting with new techniques and styles. In 2019, after Lasseter left Disney, Jennifer Lee (the succeeding CCO of Walt Disney Animation Studios), producer Peter Del Vecho and director Chris Buck confirmed that making another 2D animated film is still possible, and that the different styles are driven by the filmmakers who chose what method to use to tell their stories. [114]

Since the film's original release, it has had success on streaming platforms and with merchandise sales. [115] [116]

Other media

Tiana and Prince Naveen in Disney on Ice. Disney on Ice - Tiana and prince Naveen.jpg
Tiana and Prince Naveen in Disney on Ice .

Theme parks

Tiana, Naveen, and Dr. Facilier appear as meet-and-greet characters at the Disney Parks, while Louis appears during parades or live shows. [117]

Upcoming theme park ride

In June 2020, Disney announced that the Splash Mountain theme park attraction, which is themed to Disney's 1946 film Song of the South , would be rethemed based on The Princess and the Frog in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, which was stated to have had been in development since 2019. The announcement came amid the ongoing George Floyd protests and online petitions to change the theme of Splash Mountain. [118] [119] The New York Times reported that Disney executives had privately discussed removing the attraction's Song of the South theme for at least five years, before putting into development the Princess and the Frog theme. [120]

The attraction's story line will take place after the events of the film, with Tiana hosting a party for the people of New Orleans during Carnival season. Tiana discovers that due to a mix-up, the celebration is missing a band and needs the guests' help to find one, as they join her and Louis on a trip to the bayou to search for musical critters. [121] [118] [122] [123] In June 2022, Anika Noni Rose mentioned during an interview on Live with Kelly and Ryan that she has been involved with discussions with Disney on what they want the attraction to be like. [124] In July 2022 during the ESSENCE festival in New Orleans, Disney announced that the attraction will be called Tiana's Bayou Adventure, setting an opening date of "late 2024" at both parks. [125] [126] At the D23 Expo in September 2022, it was confirmed that Rose, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, and Jenifer Lewis would be reprising their roles for the ride. [127] The Magic Kingdom version of Splash Mountain closed in January 2023, [128] while the Disneyland version closed in May 2023. [129] Tiana's Bayou Adventure is scheduled to open at Magic Kingdom in summer 2024 and later in 2024 at Disneyland. [130]

Upcoming sequel television series

In December 2020, Disney announced a television spin-off titled Tiana is in development for Disney+. [131] It was also announced that Anika Noni Rose, who voiced Tiana in the film would be reprising her role in the series. [132] On November 12, 2021, Stella Meghie was announced as writer and director, making her the first African-American director to helm a Walt Disney Animation Studios project, [133] but was replaced in those capacities by Joyce Sherri by October 2023. [134] Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer Jennifer Lee contacted Meghie for the project following the latter's attempt to pitch a live-action remake of The Princess and the Frog. [135] The series will center on Tiana as she explores her city of New Orleans. [136]

A first look of Tiana was revealed in 2021, [133] with the series originally scheduled to release in 2022. [137] [138] The release date was later changed to 2023 [139] and eventually 2024. [140] In March 2023, the show's page changed to "coming soon to Disney+" with mention of a date removed. [141]

The series will be among the first spin-offs of a Walt Disney Animation Studios film to be produced by the studio itself rather than Disney Television Animation. Animation services will be provided by Walt Disney Animation Studios' Burbank and Vancouver studios, with storyboarding and pre-production also handled at the Burbank studio. [142]

Potential live-action adaptation

In January 2022, Jennifer Lee revealed that Stella Meghie, originally the writer and director of Tiana, wanted to develop a live-action adaptation of the film. [143]

Films and television

Video games

  • As mentioned earlier, a video game adaptation of the film was released in late 2009 for Microsoft Windows, Wii and Nintendo DS. [65]
  • Tiana, Prince Naveen, Louis, Mama Odie (along with Juju), Eudora, Charlotte La Bouff, and Dr. Facilier appear as playable characters to unlock for a limited time in the world builder video game Disney Magic Kingdoms , along with some attractions based on locations in the film. In the game, the characters are involved in new storylines that serve as a continuation of the events of the film. [157]
  • An alternate version of Tiana appears as a playable character in the video game Disney Mirrorverse (2022). [158]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Song of the South</i> 1946 American live-action animated film

Song of the South is a 1946 American live-action/animated musical drama film directed by Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson; produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is based on the Uncle Remus stories as adapted by Joel Chandler Harris, and stars James Baskett as Uncle Remus in his final film role. The film takes place in the U.S. state of Georgia during the Reconstruction era, a period of American history after the end of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. The story follows seven-year-old Johnny who is visiting his grandmother's plantation for an extended stay. Johnny befriends Uncle Remus, an elderly worker on the plantation, and takes joy in hearing his tales about the adventures of Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear. Johnny learns from the stories how to cope with the challenges he is experiencing while living on the plantation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney Animation Studios</span> American animation studio

Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney, it is the oldest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 62 feature films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Wish (2023), and hundreds of short films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Splash Mountain</span> Ride at Tokyo Disneyland and former ride at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom

Splash Mountain is a log flume ride at Tokyo Disneyland. It was formerly located at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. The attraction is based on the animated sequences of Disney's 1946 film Song of the South. The ride experience begins with a peaceful outdoor float-through that leads to indoor dark ride segments, with a climactic steep drop into a "briar patch" followed by an indoor finale. The drop is 52.5 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Critter Country</span> Themed land at Disney theme parks

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruno Campos</span> Brazilian actor and lawyer (born 1973)

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Anika Noni Rose is an American actress and singer. She is best known for voicing Tiana, Disney's first African-American princess, in The Princess and the Frog (2009). She was named a Disney Legend in 2011.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Musker</span> American animation director and screenwriter (born 1953)

John Edward Musker is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He often collaborates with fellow director Ron Clements and is best known for writing and directing the Disney films The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet (2002), The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Moana (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randy Cartwright</span> American animator

Randy Cartwright is an American animator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Baxter</span> American amusement ride designer

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Tiana (<i>The Princess and the Frog</i>) Fictional character from Disneys 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog

Tiana is a fictional character in Walt Disney Pictures' animated film The Princess and the Frog (2009). Created by writers and directors Ron Clements and John Musker and animated by Mark Henn, Tiana, as an adult, is voiced by Anika Noni Rose, while Elizabeth M. Dampier voices the character as a child. She will appear in the Disney+ series Tiana.

Mark Alan Henn is an American animator and film director. His work includes animated characters for Walt Disney Animation Studios films, most notably leading or titular characters and heroines. He served as the lead animator for Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989), Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Jasmine in Aladdin (1992), young Simba in The Lion King (1994), the title character in Mulan (1998), and Tiana in The Princess and the Frog (2009). He directed the short film John Henry (2000). Henn spent a total of 43 years at Walt Disney Animation Studios, from 1980 until his retirement in 2023.

<i>The Princess and the Frog</i> (soundtrack) 2009 soundtrack album by Various Artists

The Princess and the Frog (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack of the 2009 Disney animated film The Princess and the Frog. It was released by Walt Disney Records on November 23, 2009, just a day before the limited release of the film in New York City and Los Angeles. It contains ten original songs and seven score pieces, all but one of which were composed, arranged and conducted by composer Randy Newman, who previously worked with the film's executive producer John Lasseter on Pixar's films Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Cars. "Never Knew I Needed" was written and performed by Ne-Yo. The song had an accompanying music video which featured rotation on Disney Channel. The song was also sent to rhythmic radio on October 27, 2009. The songs are performed by various artists most of which lend their voices to characters in the film. The score features African-American-influenced styles including jazz, zydeco, blues and gospel.

"Friends on the Other Side" is a song from the 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog. It was written by Randy Newman and is sung by Keith David, the voice of the film's villain, Doctor Facilier. It depicts Facilier beginning his plan to take over New Orleans by first deceiving Prince Naveen while at the same time getting his valet, Lawrence, to become his ally. This song is reprised later in the film when he fails his voodoo spirit accomplices, a.k.a the 'friends on the other side' of the bargain deal, and he, along with his shadow, are being dragged into the voodoo spirit world.

"Down in New Orleans" is a song from Disney's 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog, written by Randy Newman. Several versions of the song were recorded for use in different parts of the film and other materials. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 82nd Academy Awards, but lost to "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart.

"Almost There" is a song written by Randy Newman for Walt Disney Pictures' animated film The Princess and the Frog (2009). It was originally recorded by actress and singer Anika Noni Rose in her film role as Tiana. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 82nd Academy Awards, but lost to "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart. "Down in New Orleans", another song from the film, performed by Dr. John, was also nominated for the Oscar.

"When We're Human" is a song from the 2009 Disney animated feature film The Princess and the Frog. It is performed by Louis, Tiana and Naveen [as frogs], when they are sailing down a river and fantasizing about what they will do when they become human. It was composed by Randy Newman and co-orchestrated by Jonathan Sacks, and features Michael-Leon Wooley, Bruno Campos and Anika Noni Rose. It "is in the style of jazz", while having " a Mardi Gras party sound". The trumpet solos are performed by Terence Blanchard on behalf of his horn-blowing animated alter ego Louis the Alligator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiana's Bayou Adventure</span> Log flume at Disney theme parks

Tiana's Bayou Adventure is an upcoming log flume attraction at Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. It is based on Disney's 2009 film The Princess and the Frog. The ride experience will begin with a peaceful outdoor float-through that will lead to indoor dark ride segments, with a climactic steep drop followed by an indoor finale. The drop is 52.5 feet. The attraction is scheduled to open in summer 2024 at Magic Kingdom and later in 2024 at Disneyland. It is a redesign of Splash Mountain.

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